A landlord was left outraged after a judge ruled that a ‘spiteful’ teenage tenant who smashed up his home causing £20,000 of damage did not have to pay a penny in compensation.
>Glenn Schofield rented his four-bedroom property to Lee Davis, 18, but problems began in June last year when the teenager’s girlfriend moved in.
>First the landlord started to receive complaints about anti-social behaviour then Davis’s rent payments suddenly stopped.
>Mr Schofield spent months going through the courts to get an eviction order for the Darlington property but by the time he succeeded, Davis, who has never had a job but wants to join the Army, had smashed it up in anger at being asked to leave.
>The landlord spent £2,000 cleaning the house after the pair finally left in August this year, while his insurer quoted another £18,500 to repair further damage, including replacing broken kitchen fittings and appliances. A toilet had also been left blocked to overflowing.
>Sue Jacobs, prosecuting, told the court that paint had been thrown over walls and the fireplace, with ‘extensive damage’ in every room.
>She said police had to board up the property on the day the couple finally moved out, adding: ‘The banister had been completely ripped off, paint had been thrown over the walls and fireplace, doors were smashed and windows broken.’
>Judge Howard Crowson told Davis at Teesside Crown Court this week that he wanted to make him foot the bill but could not as the teenager had no money.
>Davis’s barrister, Rod Hunt, told the court: ‘If he had been a celebrity hell-raiser or a member of the Bullingdon Club he would have just written a cheque, but he’s not.’
>Davis, who was arrested after police traced him to a new address near Glasgow, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was given an 18-month community order and told to do 300 hours of unpaid community work.
